Politics & Government

Bellone Cuts Ties with LIPA HQ

The Suffolk County executive said he is working with local substations to help get power back to long-suffering LIPA customers.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone on Saturday said he has started working directly with local substations to help power up most of the 33,000 LIPA customers still without power in the county.

Bellone said he is bypassing Long Island Power Authority's leaders because "they have proven to have no ability to communicate."

Bellone said by working with the substations, he would be able to deploy crews to areas without power and keep them in Suffolk County until nearly every resident and business is back on the grid.

Find out what's happening in Deer Park-North Babylonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"It had become clear that LIPA's headquarters didn't even know where the resources were," Bellone said. "This has been a massive failure in leadership. We no longer trust headquarters."

Bellone wasn't the only one to have harsh words for Long Island Power Authority leadership. In an interview Saturday afternoon, Babylon Supervisor Richard Schaffer called LIPA's performance "shocking."

Find out what's happening in Deer Park-North Babylonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Schaffer added that LIPA's rank-and-file workers were not to blame for the power authority's failure.

"The men and women running substations, the linemen, the crews in general have been great," Schaffer said. "They rejoice when anyone talks to them. This isn't their fault."

Bellone also asked residents to take it easy on the field workers, who he said "are working 17-hour days."

Bellone said most Suffolk ratepayers should have power by late Sunday night.


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